scholarly journals Using Mobile Device Data to Track the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Spatiotemporal Patterns of National Park Visitation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9366
Author(s):  
John A. Kupfer ◽  
Zhenlong Li ◽  
Huan Ning ◽  
Xiao Huang
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Spatiotemporal Patterns ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
Park Visitation ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Parks Management

Effective quantification of visitation is important for understanding many impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on national parks and other protected areas. In this study, we mapped and analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of visitation for six national parks in the western U.S., taking advantage of large mobility records sampled from mobile devices and released by SafeGraph as part of their Social Distancing Metric dataset. Based on comparisons with visitation statistics released by the U.S. National Park Service, our results confirmed that mobility records from digital devices can effectively capture park visitation patterns but with much finer spatiotemporal granularity. In general, triggers of visitation changes corresponded well with the parks’ management responses to COVID-19, with all six parks showing dramatic decreases in the number of visitors (compared to 2019) beginning in March 2020 and continuing through April and May. As restrictions were eased to promote access to the parks and the benefits associated with outdoor recreation, visitation in 2020 approached or even passed that from 2019 by late summer or early autumn at most of the parks. The results also revealed that parks initially saw the greatest increases in visitation after reopening originating from nearby states, with visitorship coming from a broader range of states as time passed. Our study highlights the capability of mobility data for providing spatiotemporally explicit knowledge of place visitation.

scholarly journals Use of Multiple Methods: An Examination of Constraints Effecting Ethnic Minority Visitor Use of National Parks and Management Implications

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina S. Roberts ◽  
Donald A. Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The Past ◽  
Park Visitation ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Visitor Use ◽  
Recreation Participation

Understanding outdoor recreation participation and national park visitation by members of ethnic minority groups has been a particular focus of outdoor recreation researchers for the past twenty years. Attracting ethnic minorities, and understanding their recreation needs and interests, demands a multi-faceted approach and sustained commitment not only by the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) but by other resource management agencies as well.

From Competition to Cooperation: A History of Canada–US National Park Relations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Young ◽  
Alan MacEachern ◽  
Lary Dilsaver
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
The Relationship

This essay explores the evolving international relationship of the two national park agencies that in 1968 began to offer joint training classes for protected-area managers from around the world. Within the British settler societies that dominated nineteenth century park-making, the United States’ National Park Service (NPS) and Canada’s National Parks Branch were the most closely linked and most frequently cooperative. Contrary to campfire myths and nationalist narratives, however, the relationship was not a one-way flow of information and motivation from the US to Canada. Indeed, the latter boasted a park bureaucracy before the NPS was established. The relationship of the two nations’ park leaders in the half century leading up to 1968 demonstrates the complexity of defining the influences on park management and its diffusion from one country to another.

Are We Loving Our National Parks to Death? A Call for Research on Crime and Law Enforcement in the U.S. National Park System

2021 ◽  
pp. 073401682110157
Author(s):  
William Andrew Stadler ◽  
Cheryl Lero Jonson ◽  
Brooke Miller Gialopsos
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Current State ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Service Data ◽  
National Park System ◽  
The U.S

Despite a recent surge of visitation and frequent media accounts of lawlessness in America’s national parks, little empirical research has been dedicated to crime and law enforcement in the U.S. national park system. The absence of systematic crime and justice research within these protected spaces should raise concern, as recent park service data and intra-agency reports suggest visitor growth, funding and personnel declines, operational shortcomings, and technology constraints may endanger the capacity of the National Park Service (NPS) to adequately address anticipated crime threats in the 21st century. This call for research aims to raise awareness of the contemporary law enforcement challenges facing this federal agency and encourage the study of crime and justice issues within the U.S. national park system. We briefly examine the evolution and current state of NPS law enforcement and its associated challenges and conclude with a conceptual road map for future research occurring in these protected spaces.

scholarly journals “Making Alcatraz Amazing”: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Boling
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Golden Gate ◽  
Federal Prison ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Multiple Languages

In 1987 the National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy launched the Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour as part of the interpretive program educating visitors about the island and its history. Using an existing format made possible several years previously by Sony Walkman™ technology, the designers framed this individual, and innovative, audio tour as a means for visitors to experience the cellhouse through the voices of people incarcerated there, or living and working there, during the years when it served as an active federal prison. Such a design called for different decisions about content, scripting and moving people through space than had been required for ranger-led tours or the lecture-type audio tours prevalent at the time. The original tour has been updated continuously since its launch, and experienced by millions of visitors in multiple languages. The author of this case experienced the tour in 1988 and interviewed key designers in 2014.

scholarly journals Contrasting prescription burning and wildfires in California Sierra Nevada national parks and adjacent national forests

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Jon E. Keeley ◽  
Anne Pfaff ◽  
Anthony C. Caprio
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Forests ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Natural Fires ◽  
Park Service ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lassen Volcanic National Park

History of prescription burning and wildfires in the three Sierra Nevada National Park Service (NPS) parks and adjacent US Forest Service (USFS) forests is presented. Annual prescription (Rx) burns began in 1968 in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, followed by Yosemite National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park. During the last third of the 20th century, USFS national forests adjacent to these parks did limited Rx burns, accounting for very little area burned. However, in 2004, an aggressive annual burn program was initiated in these national forests and in the last decade, area burned by planned prescription burns, relative to area protected, was approximately comparable between these NPS and USFS lands. In 1968, the NPS prescription burning program was unique because it coupled planned Rx burns with managing many lightning-ignited fires for resource benefit. From 1968 to 2017, these natural fires managed for resource benefit averaged the same total area burned as planned Rx burns in the three national parks; thus, they have had a substantial impact on total area burned by prescription. In contrast, on USFS lands, most lightning-ignited fires have been managed for suppression, but increasing attention is being paid to managing wildfires for resource benefit.

2020 national park visitor spending effects: Economic contributions to local communities, states, and the nation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Thomas ◽  
Lynne Koontz
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Labor Income ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Economic Output ◽  
Interactive Tool ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Trend Data ◽  
State And Local

The National Park Service (NPS) manages the Nation’s most iconic destinations that attract millions of visitors from across the Nation and around the world. Trip-related spending by NPS visitors generates and supports economic activity within park gateway communities. This report summarizes the annual economic contribution analysis that measures how NPS visitor spending cycles through local economies, generating business sales and supporting jobs and income. In 2020, the National Park System received over 237 million recreation visits (down 28% from 2019). Visitors to national parks spent an estimated $14.5 billion in local gateway regions (down 31% from 2019). The estimated contribution of this spending to the national economy was 234,000 jobs, $9.7 billion in labor income, $16.7 billion in value added, and $28.6 billion in economic output. The lodging sector saw the highest direct effects, with $5 billion in economic output directly contributed to this sector nationally. The restaurants sector saw the next greatest effects, with $3 billion in economic output directly contributed to this sector nationally. Results from the Visitor Spending Effects report series are available online via an interactive tool. Users can view year-by-year trend data and explore current year visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and economic output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. The interactive tool is available at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.

The barriers to millennials visiting Rouge Urban National Park

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Ramsay ◽  
Rachel Dodds ◽  
Daniela Furtado ◽  
Yana Mykhayletska ◽  
Anna Kirichenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Health ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
National Park ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Urban Parks ◽  
Electronic Media ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Road Congestion

Intensified urbanization has led to more populated cities and less green spaces which are vital to community health, wellbeing and conservation. Rouge Urban National Park in Toronto has recently become Canada’s first urban national park. This park is ideally suited to the millennial population, offering outdoor recreation and green space that this growing market generally desires. There is, however, a lack of research into visitor motivations to urban parks and more specifically millennial motivations. Findings from 280 quantitative surveys found three main barriers to visiting the Urban National Park: distance, transportation, and awareness. The lack of public transport combined with road congestion and fewer millennials owning cars creates issues with accessibility. Poor branding and knowledge through electronic media creates low awareness within a demographic market so tied to technology. Keywords: urban national parks; millennials; distance decay theory; visitor motivations; Canada

scholarly journals Partnerships and Stakeholder Participation in the Management of National Parks: Experiences of the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 399
Author(s):  
Walter Musakwa ◽  
Trynos Gumbo ◽  
Gaynor Paradza ◽  
Ephraim Mpofu ◽  
Nesisa Analisa Nyathi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Stakeholder Management ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Parks Management ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

National parks play an important role in maintaining natural ecosystems which are important sources of income and livelihood sustenance. Most national parks in Southern Africa are managed by their states. Before 2007, Gonarezhou National Park was managed by the Zimbabwe Parks Management and Wildlife Authority, which faced challenges in maintaining its biodiversity, community relations and infrastructure. However, in 2017 the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Zimbabwe Parks Management and Wildlife Authority formed an innovative partnership under the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust (GCT). This study examines the relationship between GCT management, Gonarezhou National Park stakeholders and communities as well as the impact of the relationship on biodiversity and ecosystems. The study also highlights challenges faced and lessons learned in managing Gonarezhou as a protected area. To obtain the information, key informant interviews, Landsat satellite imagery, secondary data from previous studies and government sources were utilized. The results indicate that the concerted efforts of the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust to manage the park are starting to bear fruit in improving biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management and engaging communities. However, challenges such as governance obstacles, problematic stakeholder management, maintaining trust in community relations, ensuring sustainability, managing the adverse impacts of climate change and human-wildlife conflicts must still be navigated to ensure the park’s sustainable management. Notwithstanding challenges, we argue that a partnership arrangement such as the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust is a desirable model that can be applied in national parks in Zimbabwe and Africa for better biodiversity management and tourism.

A Public's Awareness of Regional Parks and Park Management Agencies with Implications for Management-oriented Interpretation

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-64
Author(s):  
Carin E. Vadala ◽  
Robert D. Bixler ◽  
William E. Hammitt
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Park Management ◽  
Evaluation Strategies ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Management Issues

South Florida summer residents (n=1806) from five counties (Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties) were asked to recall the names of two units of the National Park Service and, when prompted, to recognize each of the four national park units located in south Florida. Only 8.4% of respondents could name two units of the National Park Service, yet when prompted many more stated that they had at least heard of the national parks in south Florida. Interpreters may be able to help raise visitor awareness of resource management issues by including information about the role of the agency in their talks or as part of their interpretive theme. Suggestions for further research and evaluation strategies are provided.

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